Tee hee... Tsunade chapter ahead. I'm not going to say anything to spoil it. So go read! Notes at the end!
Tsunade should have left The Roost hours ago. She knew this. In the back of her mind, a voice kept nagging her that it was past time. It was common knowledge in the Rose District that she spent her free time here, and as one of the more popular players in the Game, it was practically asking for trouble if she just sat here, continuing to play cards.
But she'd been on a losing streak. The past three hours had put her in a foul mood, and she couldn't bring herself to leave without at least one more big score. How long could it take?
Looking down at her cards, Tsunade didn't think it would take much longer. All she needed was the Ace of Spades and she'd be unbeatable. She'd have four aces and no one at the table could have a better hand than that. Yes, the Royal flush was a better hand, but if she had all of the Aces? No one could get a Royal flush on her.
She'd switched games about an hour ago, leaving behind Hold 'Em poker for the more traditional Five Card Draw, and she felt that her luck was about to change.
Apparently so did everyone else at the table, because the pot had grown enormously. Fifty thousand dollars was in the middle, being coveted by ten players… all who had way too much money riding on this one hand.
"Come on," the blonde twirled a lock of hair between her fingers, impatiently waiting to find out what her next opponent was going to do.
"I'll take two," the fat man in a suit called out, throwing away two cards from his hand. The dealer dealt him two new cards, turning to Tsunade and letting her know she was free to sluff cards if she wished.
"I'll take two as well," she smiled, tossing away the Five of Clubs and the Jack of Diamonds. The dealer dealt her the two cards she had requested. Picking up the first, Tsunade was disappointed to see the King of Spades. The last card lay on the table. It could be her Ace… or it could be her defeat.
She reached out for the card, and the world erupted into chaos.
An explosion ripped the doors off their hinges, blasting them inwards towards the casino. The large, golden doors became lethal projectiles, ripping through rows of slot machines, gamblers, and tables alike. People began screaming and running for the exits, but Tsunade stayed seated. Turning towards the smoking entrance of the casino to see a large, hulking figure step through the black acrid cloud left behind from the explosion.
Subject # 0914
A.K.A The Bull
Real Name: Asuma Sarutobi
Kill Count: 22
Classification: Assault
It was a burly man, with a beard and aviator shades. He was wearing a bullet proof vest and a bandoleer of shotgun shells. In his left hand he carried an intimidating looking shotgun, most likely fast action or automatic, in his right hand he held another grenade. The Crone and the mountainous man locked eyes with one another, and then he threw the grenade in her direction.
Tsunade sprang from her seat, rolling over the table and flipping it over, providing a barrier between herself and the next explosion just moments before the grenade rocked the casino, showering cards, poker chips, and debris into the air. A burning card fluttered down in front of Tsunade and she cursed: it was the Ace of Spades. Something told her that this asshole had just cost her a lot of money.
"I'm impressed," the man shouted through the silence.
Apparently everyone had managed to flee the casino because the rest of the room was eerily quiet. Save for the sound of gambling machines clicking and playing music, Tsunade couldn't hear another person in the room, which meant security would be on its way soon. "What?" she called out, "You think I haven't seen a grenade before. I've been doing this a long time. Admittedly I've never seen someone launch a ground assault before. You do know they have cameras, right?"
The man chuckled, "That's what the beard and the sunglasses are for, honey. I'll shave, and no one will recognize me."
"Are you an idiot?" she sighed with exasperation, "They have facial recognition software. Beard or not… you're screwed, dumbass!"
"Humph," the man grunted, turning as a group of Casino security officers came storming in, guns drawn. The man raised his shot gun, and in a barrage of rounds he mowed them all down in seconds.
"Yep," Tsunade thought, "Automatic shotgun. This is gonna be awesome..." She chastised herself for sticking around to allow something like this to happen, but it was too late to do anything about that now. No, what she needed to do at the moment was find a way out of this casino and into a closer quarters room. That way she could use the tight space to her advantage.
The Crone was one of the few players in The Game who was a professional fighter. She knew several forms of martial arts, as well as grappling techniques, military combat, and weapons knowledge. Tsunade owed that to her time as a special forces operative in the Konoha military.
"You gonna come out from behind that table, sweetheart?" the man fired a shotgun blast into the poker table she was hiding behind. It splintered the wood, chunks of it going flying, but, besides shuddering from the blast, the table protected Tsunade from harm.
"Nah," she called out, looking around for a weapon, "You're gonna have to come over here." Off to her right she noticed the wooden utinsil that the dealer used to move poker chips around on the table. Tsunade didn't know what it was called, but as far as weapons went? It was fast, and it would sting when it hit something. Unexpected pain was an effective weapon.
There was the sound of foot steps on broken glass, probably from the slot machines. The man was heading her way. Gripping her weapon tight, she braced herself, listening intently for which direction the man would come from. The sound of his tread informed her that he was coming around from the left, scooting over to that side of the table, she waiting.
The moment the barrel of his shotgun was visible, Tsunade attacked. Bringing the wooden stick up, she slapped the gun away, and it discharged towards the ceiling. Chunks of sheetrock and bits of insulation fell down on their heads, but Tsunade didn't halt. She brought the stick down swiftly on the man's wrist with a loud "WHAP!"
He cried out in pain as the strike hit the flesh of his wrist between his gloved hand and his shirt sleeve, leaving a stinging red welt. Kicking his weapon aside. That had been easier than expected! Tsunade dealt him another strike to the face, "SLAP!", follwed by a whip-like blow to the man's neck.
The huge guy stumbled backwards, bringing up his arms to block the stinging rain of blows she was hailing down on him, as nasty, red marks began to rise on the man's cheek and collar. "Bitch!" he swore, catching the stick and snapping it with a jerk of his hand. He then barreled into her, knocking them both to the floor. Tsunade landed with the man on top of her, barely dodging his fist as it slammed into the carpet beside her head.
She swung both of her hands up, clapping the man on both ears with as much force as she could. The attack stunned the giant, and she push a leg in between them, shoving the brute off of her. He staggered, hitting a Craps table and falling over backwards.
With a groan, Tsunade rolled off of her back and onto her feet, bolting for the doors which led to the kitchens. She could hear the man cursing and shouting as he made to pursue her. She thought fast, hearing the man as he slammed through the doors with such force that they hit the walls.
Grabbing a large skillet that was hanging in front of her, Tsunade spun around swinging the iron pan at the man's head. It connected with a "CRACK!" flooring him.
The large man hit the ground and rolled, obviously trained in combat himself. He came up in a crouch and launched himself at Tsunade, his sheer bulk over powering her as he pinned her against one of the stovetops. She could feel metal and knobs digging into her back, and she brought the iron skillet around again, but the man caught her wrist and yanked it from her grasp.
"You're a lot tougher than I thought you'd be," he grinned, blood pouring from his forehead where she had struck him. "But be a good bitch and die!"
His hands went to her throat, which meant he wasn't protecting his lower body. Rookie mistake after all. Gasping for breath, the blonde brought her knee up into his groin. The brute let go of her with a shout and doubled over in pain.
Tsunade grabbed his head with both hands and slammed it onto the stove, turning on the burner. The gas stove flared to life, instantly searing the side of the mans head. He screeched in pain, swinging wildly with his fists.
He caught Tsunade with a backhand, knocking her over a counter. She tumbled to the tiled floor of the kitchen, landing among a pile of cooking tools: spatulas, whisks… and a knife. She could hear the man's screaming turn into groans of pain. He was heading towards her, and by his labored breathing Tsunade could tell he was pissed.
She scrambled forward, grabbing the knife just as she felt a hand grab hold of her hair at the roots. She was yanked off the floor and thrown backwards, slamming against a large refrigeration unit. The force of the impact against that metal door was unforgiving; she hated herself for it but a cry of pain escaped her lips as she tumbled across the floor.
The man came stalking towards her, murderous intent blazing in his brown eyes. He picked up a large copper pot, raising it over his head to bludgeon Tsunade with.
She kicked out, catching the man's left knee with the heel of her shoe. There was a "snap!" and the man howled in pain. Pushing up from the tile, she was sad to see that she'd managed to break the heel of her shoe… but fortunately it had broken off in the man's knee. By sheer luck, her kick had hit the bearded man perfectly between the knee cap and the joint, lodging her shoe's heel there and effectively eliminating her attacker's ability to move that leg.
As his weight was no longer supported by his left leg, the man collapsed. He was growling, trying to push himself back up onto his feet; Tsunade pounced, bringing her knife slashing for his throat. The man brought a gloved hand up, blocking the knfe, but he received a vicious gash across his palm.
Unfortunately her momentum, paired with her balance being thrown off by her missing heel, carried Tsunade directly into the man's grip. He punched her hard, straight in the chest, before slamming her forcefully to the ground. Climbing atop her, he brought his hands to her throat, grinning victoriously, "I'm going to enjoy this! I'm gonna watch the life leave your eyes, oh… so slowly!"
"Fuck you!" she gasped, spitting in the man's face. His hands tightened on her neck, smearing his blood all over her, and Tsunade could feel the lack of oxygen starting to affect her brain. The tendons in her neck were straining, if she didn't do something soon…
She gripped her knife and, with a cry of anger, swung it upwards, embedding the blade in the man's throat.
He staggered backwards, sputtering and spitting blood as even more of the red fluid sprayed from the knife in his carotid artery. Still, he wasn't dead yet, and Tsunade never left things unfinished. Getting up to her feet, she reached down and picked up the large copper pot… the one he had intended to use on her. She raised it over her head, enjoying the look of fear in the man's eyes, and she brought forcefully down. There was a satisfying "CRUNCH!", the man's body twitched slightly, and then he was still.
Tossing the bloody cookware to the floor, Tsnade leaned back against the counter and breathed, taking in a deep, ragged breath. A choked sob escaped her lips and then she began to laugh hysterically. She was alive. It had been years since she'd been forced to fight tooth-and-nail like that. She'd grown complacent, but apparently The Game was breeding new and deadly players, and if she didn't stay serious… the blonde woman looked around at the ruined kitchen and the body on the floor. It could have been so much worse. She could have easily been that corpse.
She walked over to the corpse, rummaging around in it's pockets until she found his silver player's ring. She pocketed it with a tired smile, relishing a victory, even if it was hard won.
Letting out a sigh, Tsunade kicked off her ruined shoes and walked out of the kitchen. She had two priorities at the moment: first, she was going up to the security office and erasing the footage of her fight with that asshole; then she was going to get out of here, buy some painkillers in the Undermarket, and then drink herself to sleep. Seeing as how she'd just killed the person after her, Tsunade was looking forward to twenty-four hours of drunken rest.
A/N -
I know… I expect to hear: but why would you give Asuma a role and then not even let him do anything really?
Um, because I wanted to.
He fit the physical description of this fight when it came into my head. Besides, he got to kinda kick the crap out of Tsunade, so he shouldn't get to complain. (not like he can… cause… he's dead!)
A lot of people were telling me that they wanted to see more action, and really, I didn't have much planned. Naruto has a little here and there, Sasuke has a little here and there… but all in all? The next week is looking light on the action, so my mind was all "Why not let Tsunade have the spotlight for this week's dose of action?"
I agreed, and well… this is what you got! Please Review! See you tomorrow!